The present invention generally relates to panoramic cockpit displays and even more particularly relates to such displays having multiple projectors and a tiled display.
In the past, designers of avionics displays have endeavored to provide larger and larger display devices to better provide for enhanced situation awareness for flight crews. The use of projection displays in cockpits is gaining many followers because of their recognized ability to provide panoramic displays.
While these displays have many advantages, they also have significant drawbacks.
Typically, the projectors used in projection display screens are relatively large, heavy and expensive. To provide a Fail Operational system is required in a typical aviation environment. One approach to achieving a Fail Operational projection display configuration that has been proposed is to include fully redundant projectors or include two projectors for each normal projector requirement. One projector is the main unit and the other is a spare. However, if a tiled display system were to have four segments, with each segment using an independent projector, then eight projectors would be needed to provide fully redundancy and Fail Operational capabilities. The extra cost, weight and space required for the extra four projectors can be substantial.
Consequently, there exists a need for improvement in Fail Operational capabilities of tiled projection displays.
It is an object of the present invention to provide tiled projection displays having Fail Operational capabilities.
It is a feature of the present invention to utilize a shared projector in the event of a projector failure.
It is an advantage of the present invention to reduce the need for fully redundant spare projectors.
It is another feature of the present invention to include an optical switching system for redirecting the images normally emitted by a main projector.
It is another advantage of the present invention to minimize the number of mechanical parts required in an aviation display system.
The present invention is an apparatus and method for providing a projection image in a tiled projection system when a projector fails to operate which is designed to satisfy the aforementioned needs, provide the previously stated objects, include the above-listed features and achieve the already articulated advantages. The present invention is carried out in a xe2x80x9cfully redundant projector-lessxe2x80x9d manner in a sense that the need for fully redundant components in a system having Fail Operational capabilities has been greatly reduced.
Accordingly, the present invention is a tiled projection display system which utilizes an optical switching arrangement where one projector can be used to provide a projected image for an adjacent segment of a tile projection display system.